Written Answers Monday 29 June 2009

Scottish Executive

Kinship Care

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the debate in the Parliament on kinship care on 11 December 2008 ( Official Report c. 13305), what information it has on the payment of allowances to kinship carers by Aberdeen City Council.

Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government understands that Aberdeen City Council pays an allowance to kinship carers and has plans to deliver in full on the concordat commitment by paying an allowance at a rate equivalent to that paid to foster carers by 2011.

Medical Research

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has made available for research into skin cancer in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Government has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and healthcare needs in Scotland. CSO does not ring fence funds for specific areas of research but supports projects of a sufficiently high standard initiated by the research community in Scotland. This role is well known and advertised throughout the healthcare and academic community.

  CSO expenditure on skin cancer research in each of the last five years was as follows:

  

 2004-05
£64,157


 2005-06
£78,918


 2006-07
£81,783


 2007-08
£74,543


 2008-09
£36,205



  In addition, during the last five years, £1 million per annum has been spent on the Scottish Cancer Trials Network and approximately £10 million per annum supporting the cost of cancer research carried out in the NHS. A further £485,000 per annum for three years was spent on the National Translational Cancer Research Network and subsequently £324,000 per annum on the experimental cancer medicine centres where funding has been matched by Cancer Research UK. Some of this expenditure will have benefited skin cancer research.

  CSO would welcome further research proposals in this area which would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.

Medical Research

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has made available for lung cancer research in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Government has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and healthcare needs in Scotland. CSO does not ring fence funds for specific areas of research but supports projects of a sufficiently high standard initiated by the research community in Scotland. This role is well known and advertised throughout the healthcare and academic community.

  CSO expenditure on lung cancer research in each of the last five years was as follows:

  

 2004-05
£71,138


 2005-06
£41,532


 2006-07
£20,367


 2007-08
£0


 2008-09
£36,205



  In addition, during the last five years £1 million per annum has been spent on the Scottish Cancer Trials Network and approximately £10 million per annum supporting the cost of cancer research carried out in the NHS. A further £485,000 per annum for three years was spent on the National Translational Cancer Research Network and subsequently £324,000 per annum on the experimental cancer medicine centres where funding has been matched by Cancer Research UK. Some of this expenditure will have benefited lung cancer research.

  CSO would welcome further research proposals in this area which would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.

Medical Research

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of its funding for cancer research is spent on lung cancer research.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Government has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and healthcare needs in Scotland. CSO does not ring fence funds for specific areas of research but supports projects of a sufficiently high standard initiated by the research community in Scotland. This role is well known and advertised throughout the healthcare and academic community.

  In the last five years 5.2% of CSO’s cancer research expenditure of £3.5 million on directly funded research projects was spent on lung cancer.

Police

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the comments made by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on 1 June 2009 to the SemperScotland conference that "institutional racism does not exist in the police service in Scotland – of that I’m sure".

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has that "institutional racism does not exist in the police service in Scotland – of that I’m sure" as stated by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to the SemperScotland conference on 1 June 2009.

Kenny MacAskill: Scottish police forces take their responsibilities under equality regulations extremely seriously, and since the 1999 MacPherson report have sought to ensure they are exemplars in their approach to racial equality. Progress has been made and will continue to be made.

  Our police reflect and represent all of Scotland. Victimisation or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated; the law will be enforced by the police and within the police, and, while we always remain alert to these issues, ministers do not believe that the police service in Scotland is institutionally racist.

Small Businesses

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) start-up and (b) failure rate was of small businesses in (i) Edinburgh and (ii) Scotland in each of the last 10 years.

Jim Mather: Data on the number of VAT registrations are released annually by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DBIS). These figures are used to monitor the number of business start-ups. The latest available data refers to all VAT registrations taking place in Scotland in 2007. Please note that these figures do not account for all business activity as only companies with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

  The VAT registration rate in Scotland has remained relatively stable over the last 10 years. However, the registration figures for 2007 have increased substantially since 2006 and are the highest since the series began in 1994. It is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies (MSC). We would not anticipate that the higher level of registrations seen in 2007 will be sustained once the business behaviour in response to the tax rule change diminishes.

  Data and further information on VAT registrations can be found on the DBIS website at:

  http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat/.

  (a) Table 1 shows the rate of VAT registrations per 10,000 resident adults in both the City of Edinburgh local authority area and Scotland from 1997 to 2007.

  

 Year
 City of Edinburgh
 Scotland


 1997
 40
 30


 1998
 40
 29


 1999
 35
 28


 2000
 38
 27


 2001
 35
 27


 2002
 33
 27


 2003
 36
 29


 2004
 37
 29


 2005
 36
 28


 2006
 37
 28


 2007
 40
 35



  Source: DBIS

  Businesses de-registering from VAT do so due to closure or because turnover has fallen below the registration threshold. However, this does not necessarily mean the business has failed (i.e. lead to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings).

  (b) Table 2 shows the rate of VAT de-registrations per 10,000 resident adults in both the City of Edinburgh local authority area and Scotland from 1997 to 2007.

  

 Year
 City of Edinburgh
 Scotland


 1997
 28
 25


 1998
 30
 25


 1999
 33
 25


 2000
 30
 25


 2001
 30
 25


 2002
 31
 25


 2003
 32
 24


 2004
 27
 24


 2005
 28
 23


 2006
 27
 22


 2007
 27
 23



  Source: DBIS